Government Lowers Threshold for Company Secretary Appointment

Making changes to rules under the new companies law, the government has said all companies with a paid-up share capital of Rs 5 crore and more will have to appoint a company secretary.

Earlier, the Companies Act 2013 had mandated that all companies with a paid-up capital of up to Rs 10 crore were exempted from appointing a company secretary on a mandatory basis.

Following the implementation of the new Companies Act in April this year, Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), the apex body of company secretaries, had asked the government to amend these rules.

Modifying the rule, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in a notification said that the companies which have "a paid-up share capital of five crore rupees or more shall have a whole-time company secretary".

However, companies covered under the section-8 (the not for profit companies) would be exempted from this requirement.

These new rules would be called the 'Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Amendment Rules, 2014, it added.

In a letter to the government in April, ICSI had asked the government to modify the rules related to appointment of company secretaries as well as had demanded that secretarial audit should be made applicable to those "companies which are at least subject to internal audit", among others.